Restart, Reload, Reset
by Delpheus
Summary: Let us begin a small tale. A tale of pixels. Of magic. Of dust. Let's put in a man. Let's give him some things. Let's let him grow ...
1. Chapter 1

The year was 2234. The date was 10/10... or at least he believed it was... it was right? Bah he was getting distracted. He danced around the monsters around him. Clad in their black suits wielding their fancy engraved stylus' as if they were feathers dipped in ink. Matching squares and symbols on those squares like one matches a tie to a dress shirt.

With impeccable precision and by handing the job off to the store clerk.

Which was what he did.

He never really understood the need for the perfect suit.

If it fit him well and he felt comfortable why bother trying to show off. Maybe it was rich people thing. He shrugged unconsciously and wandered around the mall. Each holographic display flashing with different items including some new fancy sneakers. Something he'd wanted for a while... He was half tempted to tip toe in and snag a pair for himself.

No he didn't _need_ them, he had a perfect pair of dress shoes on. Made specifically for him by the owner of the shop. But the allure those sneakers had... He shivered just a touch as he glanced at the shoes... He gave his head a minute shake and continued down the long open area that made up the malls center. He glanced over at the bright red sign he saw above his destination.

 **Closing down sale. 40% off all items.**

Not very catchy but it did it's job. The sale hadn't really gathered many people. Just the usual customers with a few meandering through. He spotted a familiar silver haired man and walked over to him. A smile was exchanged as they talked.

"... A shame that this place is dying off so soon."

The man gave a sad nod as he sighed. Though his expression became a tad brighter as he waved him over to some of the newer equipment.

"You want me to buy this? You sure... it's pretty cheap?"

The man smiled. Something that wouldn't look out of place on a grieving parent remembering the good times of their lost child.

"You're one of our longest running customers... I can't think of anyone better to give it to."

It wasn't really much to look at. An antique really. It was a solid screen monitor. Something that had been made irrelevant years ago with the holo tech. He could see why the man had kept it though. Gold engraving round the frame and an almost perfectly polished screen. Neatly assembled hard drive as well. All the wiring and such was neatly ordered and ziptied. The case was sparkling like a gold bar. It even had a solid keyboard. A rarity these days.

He gave the man another glance before sighing as he smiled lightly.

"Fine. I'll take it. I'll even pay full price. No discount."

He was pretty sure the man's jaw hit the floor but it seemed to be back in place just as quickly as he turned around and handed the man a large chit full of currency. He saw the man blink in surprise as he winked.

"You should have told me you were struggling with your money. I would've helped."

"I... I can't take this..."

He shrugged as he fixed his collar.

"Yes you can. And you will. Plus. I can afford these kinds of things. It's better then hiring maids for my maids and butler's for my butler's. Besides. It's not like I'm getting any younger."

"Your twenty. Your rich. If you wanted you could become younger."

He smiled and shook his head as he carefully picked up the monitor.

"De-aging syrum isn't really my shtick. Now games on the other hand."

His miniature meglomanic laugh was interrupted when he felt something rectangular and plasticy stuck in his mouth.

"Don't laugh. It annoys the customers."

He nodded and his unorthodox gag was removed. He could still taste the plastic covering.

"This is an antique by today's standard... Maybe antiques not the right word... more like it's impossible to find. The game was pulled from stores after only forty copies were sold."

He glanced over at the man as he carefully put the monitor on the counter.

"Only forty? What happened?"

"Its cursed."

He gave the man the most deadpan look he could muster and the man only smiled.

"Is it really?"

"Yes. Or at least the evidence points towards it being so. Forty people bought the game. Forty people went missing over the next few days."

He rose an eyebrow as he moved the heavier hard drive onto the counter as well.

"Really?" He drawled "so... what? I shouldn't buy and play this game?"

The man shrugged.

"If you value your existence it's best not to."

He stared for a moment.

"You know what... Just to smite you I'm going to buy that game. Then I'll play it and prove that this game ain't cursed."

He picked up his new stuff and walked out despite man's continued warnings. He rolled his eyes as he walked.

Disappearing due to a game. Yeah right. Next thing you know I'll become some cliche with a massive gun and bulging muscles.

He froze momentarily as the image arrived at the forefront of his mind and after a brief shudder he banished the memory as far as he could. Preferably to hell.

* * *

 **HOME**

He wouldn't call his home grandiose. Maybe oversized?... It worked. It was odd that he started to contemplate this now. He'd lived in this house as long as he could remember. It might have been the large arch that stood in front of the house... Or was it the spiraling staircase that warranted somewhat higher then average levels of fitness to be able to climb.

It was probably the staircase.

The blasted staircase.

He breathed heavily as he finally reached the top. Why the hell hadn't he installed an elevator yet. Oh right. He didn't want to become one of those fatass nobles with equally large sums of money... and sins. He slowly managed to get his breath back and he looked up at the sound of quiet laughter. One of the maids... Jasmine if his mind recalled correctly walked towards him with a tray bearing the life saving liquid itself... WATER!

"Master." She cutseyed "You seem to have found a new toy."

He smiled appreciatively as he downed the glass.

"I got bored. What can you expect?"

He saw a glare cross her face. One that he found hard to not wince at.

"What I expect _master_ is that you start _studying._ Like you were supposed to half an hour ago."

He laughed awkwardly.

"I got bored studying... so I went and got this."

She looked at him with that disapproving glare again before she showed him something significantly more terrifying. She smiled.

"I see. Is that so Master?" You bought that collectors item did you?"

He felt his usual sense of danger kick in as he backed away ever so slowly.

"Y-yeah I bought it. F-fancy right?"

He smile grew ever so slightly predatory.

"Yes. It's quite a fine piece of technology."

He felt himself freeze as she effortlessly picked up the hard drive and _threw_ it down the center of the staircase. He felt his jaw drop.

"That... that... that was expensive."

She nodded in agreement.

"As were the tutoring sessions I organised for you. Yet you skipped them with little care. So I took your example and adapted it to my own. "

She shook her head again.

" I expect a twenty page report on the detrimental effects of video games on a man's mind by this afternoon."

With that request and a curtsey she walked off down the stairs.

He stood frozen as he stared at the place she'd occupied. He then contemplated his life choices. Specifically the one where he'd chosen to hire a lecturer as a maid... a particularly good lecturer at that.

He looked longingly at the spot where the hard drive had once been and quietly sighed as he pulled out the small disk in his pocket. The protective padding it was surrounded by made sure it didn't break after the years of neglect and he smiled quietly as he wandered over to his room.

A twenty page report. Piece of cake... He could really go for some cake actually. He took a ten minute cake stop and wandered back to his room. It was rather small to be honest. A double bed facing the window, wall mounted holo tv, a few drawers and a closet. Rather homely in his opinion. He carefully placed the monitor down onto one of his desks and with a wave of his hands he flicked the television on and lowered the sound. Background noise as he set up the monitor. It didn't take too long. A few minutes at most. Maybe his obsession with hardware was actually paying off... nah he doubted it. It was only a cash sink. A place to waste the excess money he wasn't donating to charities or using to enhance his businesses. Well his families businesses. Not like he had any experience running a business. He waved his hands again and the tv shut off. The lights lost their glow and he sat down in the chair he normally had here. A character creation screen greeted him and he smiled.

Sure there was all that fancy VR tech but he preferred the old school stuff like this. Immersion was good but if you lost yourself among your characters then it became dangerous. Plus motion sickness was significantly rarer on a monitor then on VR.

He stared at the pasty white ghost in front of him. Time to play god.

* * *

 **An hour later**

His eye twitched as he stared at the character in front of him. Something didn't add up. It looked like he'd wanted. Normal silver hair, normal build hell he'd even given it reasonably normal eyes. Grey was normal right?

The clothing wasn't anything outlandish either. Dress shirt with the top button undone. No cuffs. Pants that were an interesting shade of black. Interesting in that under the right light they had a purple tinge to them. He'd thought for a good while about whether a jacket would've been appropriate too. He said no after looking at the first one. He did have to say. The game knew how to give someone freedom of choice. He'd even been able to select the damn footwear. A pair of simple grey sneakers. Nothing too fancy but it suited the blank slate he was envisioning.

A moment of silence ensued as he slowly rotated the character around. Maybe it was the colour scheme... no. White and grey worked well enough... Maybe something brighter that popped out.. that might do... but what?

* * *

 **Ten minutes later**

He smiled as he stared at the painstakenly drawn blue cuffs that adorned his dress shirt. He finally made a character he could be happy with. It's only taken him... A little over an hour too. He rolled his neck and clicked on the next button.

Time for the hard choice. The one choice that would define Desmond and his future. He'd called the character Desmond after feeling his cat brush up against his leg. He hoped it was his cat... He shut down the train of thought and stared at the large wheel of options in front of him.

 **Gunslinger** **.**

 **A master of ballistic warfare. Favours the pistol and small scale firearms. Kills from close range result in 10% increase in xp while kills from long range result in -10% xp. Starts with gunsmith, medium armor and duel wielding perks allowing the creation of low class ranged weapons and medium armor as well as weapon wielding in the characters off hand respectively**

 **Dust mage.**

 **The elements beckon and you respond. A 'magician' to most. A soldier to few. A terror to all. Dust mages bear the power to manipulate dust with a precision impossible to non-mage characters. You shape the battlefield to your will. Geysers of fire, fields of ice, spires of stone, spears of wind. All to be made with a twitch of your hand. Begins with dust manipulation, dust imbued equipment and basic grimoire perks allowing dust to be utilised or imbued into equipment and armor as well as memorization of spells respectively. 10% xp from dust kills and dust related events. -10% from melee weapon kills.**

 **Neutral**

 **Specialization. Who needs it? You can become anything. Do anything... with practise. You follow the path of rigorous training. Years went by before you noticed. Noticed the power welling up before you. It wasn't much stronger then a breeze. But it was a breeze of dust... Class for players looking for a significantly longer term experience. Neutrals have the ability to draw dust from their surroundings. Dust spells are free but take three times longer to charge. Melee attacks gain 25% xp if damage is done by the player alone. 5% xp gain from all kills. 5% increase in buying and selling price of drops. Begins with dust summon, basic grimoire and Gunsmith perks allowing for a dust creature to be summoned for 40 seconds at base level. Summon damage and health increase with level. Basic grimoire allows memorization of dust spells. Gunsmith allows creation of low class ranged weapons.**

There were more of course. A plethora of choices for every type of person. Various types of thief, warrior, sniper, ranger the list went on for kilometers. But these three. They stuck out to him. The **gunslinger** held a special place in his heart. One of the first games he'd played had him firing two revolvers out at the various enemies he'd run into. Each shot shattering their defenses and giving him energy... good old life steal enhanced weaponry...

The **dust mage** sounded more like a classical mage. Strong attacks with large areas of effect that had long cooldowns. Something he'd found himself playing as of late. They were terribly squishy though. He shivered at how quickly he'd seen his health bar drop on occasions.

The **neutral** was odd to say the least. Free spells were a plus but the real thing that caught his eye had been the experience boost... All 25% of it... that was huge. Kill a strong enemy and he'd get more experience then he'd know what to do with. It even helped in the late game. Higher experience enemies meant more experience for him. Something he craved as a player. The summon spell also sounded fun. He wondered if he could summon a bear made from explosive dust... did explosive dust even exist?

He stared long and hard at the options before him. This was important. He doubted that he'd get to change his class later on so he had to be smart here. **Gunslinger** rewarded close combat but it also meant he could run away if he needed to. **Dust mage** favoured medium to long range. He'd also be able to buff people of he needed to. **Neutral** was more of a jack of all trades. It preferred close combat but it let him fall back and use his dust spells if he wanted to...

Another hour went by as he stared at the glowing circle in front of him. He'd found a filter button and limited the circle to those three classes and his mind quickly did calculations for him. Early game favoured the **Neutral.** Late game favoured more specialised classes.

The antagonizing choice finally subsided as he nodded. He moved his mouse and selected his class. He felt a sense of accomplishment... it felt weird.

The lights died.

His eyes widened.

He shouted.

The lights came back on.

He stared at the black screen. It lit up again. A strange tune played in the background. Electronic meshed with distorted choral lyrics that gave an eerie atmosphere. He stared at the large green button in front of him.

 **Enter into the abyss? Enter into Remnant?**

He took a breath and calmed his heart beat.

He clicked the button.

The world went black.

His head hurt.

He saw the blue sky above.

He shouted.

* * *

 _ **Hello to my wonderful readers. How ya doing?**_

 _ **So this is a little something I've been mulling over in my head for... let's say a month or so.**_

 _ **Yes it's a RWBY fix.**_

 _ **No I did not mix that up with some other VR esque universe.**_

 ** _Yes I know RWBY isn't a VR universe. Shush._**

 ** _This is a pilot of sorts. Tell me what you think?_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hello again my wonderful readers. Hope you're all doing well. Here's the next chapter for a yall. Oh right Reviews.**_

 _ **Guest: thanks for the kind words. I'll try to keep the quality going.**_

 ** _Right. Now that that's out of the way. Here's the chapter._**

* * *

The grassy field he saw confused him. His clothing confused him. The entire damn place confused him. He shouted up at the sky in anger.

Lightning answered his shout and struck the ground next to him making him scramble away as quickly as his sneaker clad legs could carry him. He let out a breath when he felt he was safe and glanced at his health bar.

The green bar sitting in the left corner was mostly full and a dull throbbing near his ankle told him where the lightning had hit him.

The green bar also confused him. Or it had for a few moments before his mind had put two and two together. Two and two resulted in his mind shouting at him and his ears shutting down. He laughed awkwardly as he felt his shoulders slump.

 _...so this is what Wallace meant by missing... It made sense... fucking Murphy_.

His health had begun to regenerate slowly as he looked at the bar again. It was probably one point per second which meant he probably had another thirty or so seconds until he was back at full.

He stared at the small fire that had sprung up where the lightning had hit. He then spotted the strangest thing in the center... A book. He was pretty sure it was a skill book too. It made sense. Pass a test and get the book.

Question was... what was the test? He let the crackling flames and gentle wind act as background noise while his mind whired. He unconsciously summoned the grimoire he'd been given to his hands... It was odd... He had no idea how to access the menu but he could still summon his grimoire. The pages weren't what he'd expected. No magic circles or intricate runes. No heavily encoded knowledge passed down across generations of people NPC or otherwise.

Instead he saw the four spells he had. He stared at the four elements that made them up and he turned his head ever so slightly to watch the flames.

 _Might as well test these out in a safe environment._

"Frost."

It was a strange feeling as he saw the hundreds of small crystals appear in the air in front of him. They twisted and turned before flowing up and around his arm like water. Just far enough to not touch his skin but close enough that it didn't appear to float. He stared at his now crystal clad arm and gave his fist a small squeeze. He unconsciously imagined a small gauntlet and watched in amazement as the crystals quickly repositioned and solidified into a gauntlet exactly like his mind had imagined... well it was significantly more crude with none of the embellishing or extras like the spiked knuckles but it accomplished his first and second test.

1\. Could he summon elements right from the start?

2\. Did he have the mastery to form the elements into basic weapons?

With both questions answered he looked back at his grimoire to find actual text under three of the four spells.

 **Burn** **.**

 **Known for its high temperatures and large area of effect. Burn dust becomes the equivalent of a poor man's fireball and when used at a sufficient level can create dust fusion combinations with other dust types. All spell levels apply burning debuff to attacked entity. 65% chance. Requires dual casting and dust combo perks to combine spell types. Burn dust is shapeless and therefore cannot be shaped into weapons or armor.**

He reasoned that the crystals he saw were this 'dust' the book spoke of.

 **Frost** **.**

 **The chilling wind that soothes injuries and shatters those who oppose you. Freeze dust is the most malleable form of dust allowing for various constructs to be created through it's use. Attacks infused with Freeze dust apply Slow on enemies reducing movement speed by 40% for 10 seconds. 65% chance to occur. At sufficient level it can be combined with other dust forms to create dust combinations. Requires dual casting and dust combo perks to combine spells.**

 **Earth**

 **The stable anchor. The charging bull. Earth dust possess impact unlike any other. The hardest form of dust to shape therefore allowing for walls of solid dust to be made in defense. At higher levels armor made from earth dust can be conjured with Reinforce. This pure dust cannot undergo combinations. Attacks infused with Earth dust can stagger opponents providing opportunities for attack or retreat. 10% chance to occur.**

He stared at the blank spot where he expected a fourth element to be but only saw paper. He quickly scanned down the page and noted the small text on the bottom.

 **Warning. Mana gauge will not regenerate while a spell infusion is active. Dispell or release to begin cool down phase. All spells in a basic grimoire possess a base 50 second cooldown. Cooldowns increase with damage and level. Refer to codec or Nav fairy for further info.**

 _A navigation fairy huh? That could be very useful_.

He glanced at the **Freeze dust** on his arm and carefully imagined a few spikes hovering in front of him. A portion of the dust around his hand rapidly floated off and formed into sharp spikes that moved with his armoured hand. He tried moving them with his other one but they didn't react. He guessed that he'd need **dual casting** or something similar for that.

He extended his hand towards the flames and the spikes shot into them. Small patches of ice covered the ground where the miniature icicle storm had landed but those patches melted as some of the fire vanished.

 _Fire and ice cancel each other out... need to memorize that_.

He focused for a second.

"Dispell"

The **Freeze dust** around his arm shattered and disappeared into the air and he felt a slight chill around his arm as if he'd quickly thrust his arm into ice water before wrenching it back out. He shivered at the feeling but kept going with his experiment.

"Earth."

The effect for this spell seemed different. Rocks the size of his fist rose up into the air around him before they _shattered_ into brown and green crystals that then flowed up and around his arm in a similar pattern to the Freeze dust. The dust seemed to organise itself on his arm which looked as weird as it sounded. A thick stripe of green crystals ran the length of his arm up to his elbow and on both sides it was surrounded by the brown crystals. He resigned himself to figuring out the difference between the two crystals later.

He didn't bother giving his attack a shape as he sent the dust forwards. It blanketed a large area and he marveled as the dust covered the burning area. In mere moments the flames subsided and he stared for a second.

 _... Freeze and Burn dust cancel each other out. Earth dust beats Burn dust._

He heard a strange sound that sounded like a quiet bell and he glanced from his grimoire to see a strange hologram in front of him.

 **Quest complete.**

 **Stop the impending forest fire.**

 **Rewards.**

 **50 xp.**

 **1 Arcane page.**

 **1 Navigation Fairy key.**

 **Do you wish to use the key now?**

He thought for a moment.

"Yes."

The first window vanished and a second smaller one appeared in it's place. He took note of how the window followed his vision and stuck to it's center even as he turned around

 **Fairy Name?**

"What to call you... what to call you?" He tapped his foot in thought.

 **What to call you accepted.**

 **Are you sure?**

He blinked and stared.

"No. No I don't want to call my fairy that."

 **Nono accepted**

 **Are you sure?**

He stared at the box again.

"No. Do not call my fairy Nono."

 **Wonderful. Fairy Nono selected.**

He felt his jaw drop before his shoulders slumped and his arms went limp. He was sure there were some fancy lights. Maybe even some special effects for the fairys creation. He didn't see them. He was too busy glowering at the ground. The glow from the effects subsided and he glanced up. A rather ordinary fairy stood... more like flew in front of him. It had an almost elvish face. Pointed ears and a strange ethereal beauty. It even had a flowing dress that matched the bluish white colour of the **Freeze dust** he'd used before.

He might've appreciated the creatures design more if he hadn't seen it before. It wasn't stolen to say. No it definitely had it's own unique features but he supposed it was the whole miniature person dynamic that annoyed him. He kept a neutral expression as it opened its eyes. An interesting shade of purple that you'd only find in a game. A hint of old wisdom hidden behind a strangely cheerful gaze.

"Hi there."

She waved.

"Nope"

He turned around and started walking away.

"Hey. Mister. I said hello."

He kept walking and increased his pace slightly.

"Hey! Don't run away from me! Please!"

He whirled around and kept moving in the direction he'd been going.

"I'm not running."

He saw her quickly flying to match his pace.

"Its... it's hard to fly this fast... please slow down."

He felt his look deadpan for a moment before he sighed and shook his head while slowing down to a more casual stroll.

"Navigation fairies should be able to keep up with their master no matter the speed their moving." He pointed his finger at her. "You're no nav fairy."

"I'm Nono. A great Nav fairy!"

He hid his inward cringe at the name and blankly looked at her while avoiding a tree.

"If you are then you'll be able to explain to me how you open the menu? Or can't you do that?"

He heard her giggle as she looked at him.

"Easy. You say Menu."

He shook his head.

"That doesn't work. Already tried it. "

"...really?"

Her expression become one of perplexment and he shook his head as she gave him different options. All of which he'd tried and failed before.

"That shouldn't occur." She kept shaking her head. "All players who enter the game get their own menu... Maybe yours isn't voice activated?"

He opened his mouth to retort but his brain stopped working as it made the link. It started with the fact he was an idiot for thinking it would be exclusively voice activated... many VR games had used motion based menus. Though they were usually voice activated in combat games.

He swiped his hand down in a manner he'd used for one of the few VR games he'd played. A familiar twinkling sound was followed by eight white buttons that hovered in mid air.

"See. I'm an awesome nav fairy!"

She flew a lap around his head before landing on his shoulder. An act that both irritated him yet also for some reason made him want to pet her. He gave her the weakest poke in the forehead he could as he leaned against a tree.

"Should have thought of that first. Idiot fairy."

She sent an oddly adorable glare at him.

"I. Am. A. NAV FAIRY!"

He nodded.

"So you've said... twice now. Second rule of being my companion. Look outside the box. Like just now."

She kept glaring at him and he ignored it while glancing at the menu. He tapped a button and expanded to show a square outlined in white. He watched his small character portrait rotate for a moment before quickly looking at his stats.

 **Desmond Elektrisch**

 **Level: 2**

 **Xp until next level: 100**

 **Health: 300/300**

 **Mana: 1000/1000**

 **Aura Status: Locked/Dormant**

 **Semblance: Not yet discovered.**

 _Quick access menu. Good to know._

He swiped to the side and saw a more detailed menu appear.

 **Strength - Dictates overall physical melee damage and vitality.**

 **Status: 23**

 **Agility - Dictates standard and combat movement speed and evasion rate.**

 **Status: 20 (base)**

 **Charisma - Dictates persuasion and passion of other characters towards the player.**

 **Status: 22**

 **Intellect - Dictates dust spell damage and knowledge as well as aura count.**

 **Status: 30**

 **Affinity - current path. Calculated based on choices during events, interactions and combat experience.**

 **Status: Greenhorn mage.**

The day had been at best a blob of pure irritation. Now. Now he wanted to break the nose of whoever had decided he be called a 'Greenhorn Mage'.

Apparently it seemed that Nono was done reflecting on her circumstances and decisions that had led to being partnered with him as she questioned him on what a Greenhorn was. He just stated blankly at her for a moment.

"... you don't know what that is?"

She shook her head.

"Nope. Not a clue. Nada... would now be a bad time to mention my... maybe... possible... very slight chance of being an amnesiac?"

He turned around and kept walking.

"Hey! Don't do this again!"

He looked up at the sky as he whispered.

"What did I do to deserve this? First you dump me in your little game and now I have a guide fairy with amnesia."

His mind screamed and he ducked as a blast of wind as well as a shadow roared over his head. He whirled around and stared at what had attacked him. A pair of glowing red eyes met him.

"Oh look. Now there's a fucking werewolf. Just. Fucking. Perfect."

It let out a roar and he called his **Freeze dust** forwards. He doubted that **Burn dust** was the wisest choice in a forest.

He shaped the dust into a gauntlet and recalled some of his basic boxing lessons.

Side on stance.

Time your attacks.

Snap the punch. Don't linger.

Move and observe.

He repeated the process like a mantra as he felt his mind enter it's usual analytical state.

 _Let's see... it's tall. Give it a few inches of height above mine. Standing on two legs. Sharp claws. White mask made from... is that bone? Best to assume it is. Looks mostly unarmored. Aim for the joints._

He let out a breath and relaxed his body slightly. Being too rigid only prevented his movements from flowing... maybe Liz and her insistence that he learn self defense wasn't such a waste of time.

The werewolf came at him with a fast charge. It swiped and he ducked under the unnaturally fast beast. He moved around it's side and delivered a quick jab to it's side before backing off and observing it's effect.

The wolf didn't seem to be much slower if he looked at how quickly it turned around. It's forwards movement was another story though. He was pretty impressed by how effective the slowing effect was. It looked like the werewolf was running at him at full sprint but it moved so slowly.

He ducked under another hit and delivered his own while backing away.

"Dispel, Earth."

He took note of the second or so that went by between the spells as they cycled. He then felt the difference between the gauntlet made from **earth dust** and the one made from **freeze dust**. The ice gauntlet had felt like a feather in comparison to the earth one. The gauntlet was thicker and he could _feel_ the weight behind it as he hit the air. He also saw the windup that came with it.

 _So a stronger attack that moves slower and has a windup._

He stared at the wolf that seemed to have recovered from its chilling cold. It looked angrier then before.

A loud howl responded through the forest and it charged him on all fours. The speed increase threw him off and it barreled into him head first with enough force to throw him into a tree. He blacked out momentarily but came back to his senses quickly to find a strange gold bubble around him. The wolf seemed to have been flung backwards by something and he saw Nono hovering next to him with her arms outstretched and a small gold aura glowing from them.

He stood up and felt the pain that echoed through his body.

"You're not dead. Yes!"

"How close was I?"

"1% left. Your dust saved you. You should be grateful for my help."

He nodded blankly as his mind ticked over.

 _Attack patterns changed... faster movement. More brute force. Must be at 50% health... It hits faster so I need to react faster. Think. Think!_

He heard the ping that sounded from in front of him and looked up at the message.

 **Congratulations. Aura level 1 unlocked.**

 **Elemental subtype.**

 **You mastery of dust usage and near death experience while casting has awakened your aura. It will take time but as you grow so will it. Active auras will shield the player from damage and boost health regeneration significantly. Depleted aura takes ten minutes to recharge.**

 **Subtype special: Aura gains bonus effects from spell infusions.**

 **Earth: increases aura damage resistance by 0.01% per point of mana remaining.**

 **Burn: inflicts burning DOT to entities near the player. 2 damage per point of mana remaining per 10 seconds. Warning. At current aura level, area effect passives will effect allies as well as enemies.**

 **Freeze: inflicts Slow to entities around the player. Warning. At current level, area effect passives will effect allies as well as enemies.**

He glanced at the new white bar that pulsed above his health. A deep brown outline indicated the current effect it had and he stood up with his health recharging at an incredible rate. He could feel the cocky grin that began to form and he shut it down right then and there. He set his face and mind back to a blank slate as he stared at the gold barrier and then to Nono.

"Are you doing this?"

She nodded

"All fairies are allowed to cast a holy barrier once every two days. Only for the protection of their master and only in situations where death is very likely to occur."

He nodded at the explanation and set himself back into a stance.

"Turn it off."

He heard the gasp but didnt look at her face. He kept his eyes locked at the physique of the wolf.

"Now?. You want me to turn off the barrier? You've still got a minute."

He laughed quietly.

"Don't need it. Mostly healed. Plus I can beat it now. Just need to be a bit more careful... I hope."

"... fine. Don't die!"

He didn't hear the last bit as his vision focused intently on werewolf and he blocked out any unnecessary sounds. Which happened to include Nono.

He breathed.

The barrier fell.

The wolf roared


	3. Chapter 3

It hurt to breathe.

It hurt to move.

Was this what intense training felt like? Because if it was he didn't want to deal with it. Ever.

He leaned on the tree to help his balance and glanced at his bars. His aura was gone. His health was little more then a sliver. His mana was as full as it had been before the fight.

He stared at the slowly dissolving werewolf. It's body turning to smoke as it sat on the ground. A large hole through it's chest and multiple fractured plates of bone armor.

He took a deeper breath and held it in for a moment before slowly releasing it. He hated fighting for a reason and this was it.

It always ended in pain.

Unless you died.

In which case he had no idea what it ended with. He wasn't in a hurry to find out.

With a groan of effort he pushed off the tree and opened his menu.

He felt his eyes widen at the level he sat at.

 _H...how fuck am I level 12... that means I got... 10 levels from that monster!_

He glanced at the clock he saw and stared for a moment. Two hours had gone by. TWO HOURS of time that had been devoted to avoiding death and hitting the stubbornly resilient wolf. He glanced around as he let the realisation sink in. Nono was carefully lifting a strange leather pouch towards him and he picked it up. A ping made him look up as the pouch vanished.

 **Loot acquired**

 **4× Grim claws.**

 **8× Grim bone armor -broken**

 **200x Lein**

He stared at the display and stretched his hand out as he let the blood flow back into it.

 _So this thing is called a grim?..._

He looked at the monster a little closer and recoiled when he saw a white popup appear.

 **Level 15 Beowolf.**

 **Status: Deceased**

 _Or it's called a Beowolf... then is the Grimm the type of monster? Maybe it's a race?_

He shook his head and calmly walked back to the place he'd begun his little trek from. The grass was burnt to a crisp where the bolt of lightning had struck and he still smelt the scent of burned ozone. He wandered over to the book he'd seen before and picked it up. He saw a screen appear above it and his eyes widened once again as he read what he saw.

 **Grimoire of The Frozen One.**

 **A grimoire held by an extremely talented ice mage. Contains a plethora of advanced Freeze dust techniques including armor and weapon shaping as well as enhanced Freeze dust perk.**

 **Requires level 75 to read**

 **Requires level 15 to equip**

 **Perks only apply for equipped items.**

He stared at the book as it vanished into what he assumed was his inventory.

 _So in three levels I can equip it and get better Freeze Dust but I can't learn any of the techniques or spells until I'm level 75... damn._

His body moved on autopilot as it sat down around the center of the scorched earth. His mind worked as it finally had a moment of calm to process everything without something dangerous or outright weird occuring.

It went well for the most part. Until it registered the fact that he had zero clue as to how to break out of this game...

He didn't start cursing up at the sky or curl into a ball while sobbing hysterically. He'd deny it to the ends of the earth...

He wiped the last of the dust from his shirt and combed his hair with his hand. His mind finally finished it's little tantrum and he felt the now usual cool and collected chill run through his mind. He glanced over at the still giggling Nono and shot a glare at her. She starting laughing harder and he shook his head.

Now he faced his next dilema. What to do next...

Normal procedure for getting lost somewhere unknown tended to be to try and find civilisation as fast as he could. That had led to him asking Nono where the closet city or town was.

"...I don't know."

His palm met his face and he sighed quietly.

"Right... blasted amnesia... you're a terrible nav fairy."

"Its not my fault! Why are you so mean to me?! I show up and from that moment you've been nothing but rude! Why?!"

He froze for a second and considered the question for a moment. He then shrugged.

"I've never really treated NPC's with as much consideration as a person I guess. They're made to do a job. If you can't accomplish that... then I suppose you're not worth my time... I guess I've put you into that category. "

She started crying and he winced internally.

"Okay... didn't expect that... shit how do I deal with this... look don't cry ok?"

She kept bawling her eyes out.

"It's not that you're bad at what you do... you just can't do it well with your... affliction."

She started crying harder and he winced more.

A howl made his body jolt and he started franticly searching for an answer to the problem.

"Okay. Okay look. Just stop crying. You're wasting energy. You could use that to improve yourself. Fight the amnesia. Force it to back off and awaken some memories."

She quietened down a tad and he pressed his advantage.

"If you can get even a little of your memory back then I might consider you a companion. But even if you don't I won't abandon you. You're my first... crap what do I call you? Friend? Associate... friend. You're my first friend in a while okay. Please for the love of god stop crying."

"...Really? You won't just leave me when we find a town? We'll be friends? You'll treat me better?"

"Yes. Probably. I suppose so. We'll see."

She calmed down and started wiping her eyes with a small blade of grass.

"Peace and quiet at last." He sighed under his breath.

A growl made him look over and see more Beowolves appearing from the trees. Red eyes glinting from the darkness. Bone armor on their shoulders and chest... more armor then the one he'd fought before... Just what he needed.

He turned to Nono and was tempted to blame her for this. Her wail probably attracted the werewolves. But he stopped himself. He said he'd be nicer. Time to play the part. He smiled up at her hovering form.

"Best find a place hide. Something tells me this won't end without some pain on both sides."

Her eyes widened marginally. Probably at the implications of possible death but she nodded quickly and flew off somewhere. He turned over to the waiting Beowolves. Three in total. All with slobbering jaws and razor sharp claws. He took a second and focused.

"Earth."

The effect had changed. He noticed it within seconds. No longer did rocks float up and shatter. Instead the ground exploded. He cracked his neck and inspected the gauntlet. It looked the same. Though he supposed it had more punching power.

He pulled back his fist and noted the small cylinder of green dust that came out of the back. He ignored it as a Beowulf lunged at him. His body moved on it's own as if it was being controlled. It sidestepped the lunge and his fist shot forwards.

A crunching sounded out and the Beowulf _split_ in half from the punch. The two halves flew off in a random direction as Desmond whirled around and faced the two other humanoid wolves. They glared him down and he returned the gesture while cocking his arm back again. The cylinder popped out and he let his face morph back into its emotionless expression. The staredown continued for a few seconds.

A leaf fell from a tree and the disruption forced the wolves into action. They both came at the same time with two almost synchronised lunges. He waited for them to get close and stepped to the side to avoid the one on his left. The Beowolf stopped moving and his punch hit thin air. A distortion rippled through the air and the grass under the warped air was ripped from the ground due to the punches concussive force. He assumed the cylinder had something to do with it but he only lingered on the thought for a moment as the Beowulf he'd failed to kill swiped it's claws at him. He dodged but still felt the sharp instruments of death graze his side. His aura bottomed out from the strike and he immediately widened the distance.

"Dispel. Burn"

He kept moving back as the wolves advanced. He heard the beeping that echoed in his head. The usual warning that his aura was down and he needed to avoid death.

The small red crystals formed around him into six small balls of burning pain. He tried making them into spikes but the flames immediately reverted back to their original form. He glared at the two werewolves as they stalked closer to him. He swung his hand around him and shot off the six balls of dust. Two missed but the four that did hit detonated against the softer parts of the first creature. It was both fascinating and horrifying to watch as it's body was enveloped in crimson flames. He heard a howl filled with pain as it's body rolled on the ground. A vain attempt at removing the fire on it's body. The dust clung to it's fur and skin and it eventually stopped moving.

He let out a breath as six more balls of fire surrounded his hand. He pointed over towards the last Beowolf and it died a similarly excruciating death as it fell victim to dust enhanced fire. He stared at the destruction he'd caused and he fixed his collar while dispelling his dust. He jolted minutely when Nono popped into existence next to him with a flash of light. Her reaction to the burning trees around him had a slightly more panicked feel to it.

"THE FOREST! We have to stop this!"

He gave a passive glance to the three or four trees that were on fire and with a roll of his eyes he recalled all the burn dust. It served as an experiment too. An effective one at that. Once the dust left the trees, they immediately stopped burning.

"Problem solved."

A cracking sound made him turn around and he saw a tree fall down. It hit the ground with a resounding crash .

"Mostly."

A second tree hit the ground and he found himself glaring into the forest. It was during this intense staring match with mother nature that he heard a peculiar sound. A staccato of noise that only lasted for a second. He turned his head slowly and the noise became ever so slightly louder.

He focused resolutely on the sound. To his ear it was the distinct sound of gunfire.

"What's wrong?"

He let his vision switch over to Nono while he listened.

"Guns. Over there. A while away."

She nodded and he dispelled his dust as he quickly moved in the direction of the gunfire. The sound grew as he rushed through the forest. Leaves scattered and twigs snapped but he kept moving. It reached its peak as he let his back hit a tree.

"Freeze " he whispered and envisioned his hand being covered by claws.

Small spikes of ice as sharp as knives formed and he used the clawed hand to scale the tree. He sat on one of the thicker branches and whistled at what he saw.

Four girls. Each with interesting weapons. One was clad in white with a rapier that flowed like water with her movements. Each step followed by a purposeful movement. Each strike followed by a dissolving grim. Another covered in yellow. Her gauntlets seeming to make her punches even more deadly as she sent grim flying. There was also a black clad girl. She stuck with her sword and sheathe. Disappearing to the trees shadows and hitting the back of exposed grim with a scary precision. The last one had a strange trail behind her... rose petals. She blurred from enemy to enemy. An insanely large scythe in hand as she cut through a horde of grim... It was both terrifying and fascinating.

He squinted and tried looking for level indicators only to see none. That gave him pause and he looked over at Nono as he did. She didn't have one either...

 _So NPC's don't get health bars... It must be one hit kills then... interesting._

He went back to watching the girls fight. They were doing reasonably well. The large horde of grim was mainly low level beowolfs. Well. Low level by his standards. The majority were around level 5 or 6 but he saw a few around 8 and 9 as well. The higher level ones seemed to have significantly more armor though the weapons the girls had seemed to break through the armor after a few hits.

He saw the flickering he'd assumed was aura around their bodies as they were hit but they kept moving and attacking.

"We should help them."

He glanced over at Nono.

"Yeah no. I'm not getting into that."

One of the girls. The white one, was sent flying as a grim resembling a bear barreled into her.

"But... they could die!"

"So could I. Plus I get little for all that effort."

He could see her tiny brain processing the information before she seemed to brighten all of a sudden.

"Did you know fighting in groups gives you more xp?"

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You remember this now? Exactly when the situation calls for it?"

"They'll take all the xp if you don't get in there."

He could hear the teasing edge to her voice. He glared forwards at the girls and did so for a while longer. One of the girls went down as one of the higher level beowolves deflected their blow and pounced on them. The red one from what he could see. She was saved by the blond and the other three surrounded her as she got back to her feet. He growled and shook his head.

"Let it be known. I hate when you're right."

"You'll help them?!"

"Damn it. Fine. Go hide."

"Yay"

She started hugging him and he rolled his eyes as he shaped the freeze dust into a gauntlet. He thought for a moment and reshaped it into a miniature storm of icicles and let them fan out behind him as he leapt from the tree.

"I'm always saving the princess... fucking shitty knights."


	4. Chapter 4

His feet hit the ground and he slowly straightened up. The Grimm seemed to have heard his landing as a few lower level beowolves ran at him. He swung he hand in an arc and bolts of ice flew from them. Two spikes pierced through the skull of the first Beowulf and the second lost its heart to another pair. It was scarily easy when he considered his first fight against these things. Though that might be because his first opponent had been so much higher in terms of level then him.

He kept raining down spikes of ice on the Beowolves as they came. He got bored of spikes after a while and instead started freezing the wolves in solid ice as they came. It used more concentration to do but he didn't really mind. He was so much higher in terms of level that they didn't even get close enough to touch his aura. It was a strangely cathartic experience.

It was until he felt the sharp impact of something against his side that had enough force to lift him off his feet and send him into a tree. A particularly hard tree if he took the fact that it didn't break into account. He shuddered as feeling returned to his body and he quickly pushed himself back to his feet. His blurred vision cleared at he stared at the rather ugly mug of a Beowulf.

"Well look at you. Mr bigshot are we?"

It roared before a loud gunshot blew it's head clean off. He heaved and pushed the body off him to find a blur of red slicing the grim around him to pieces. The blur was definitely slower but he guessed that was his aura and it's area of effect. He let out a breath as the beeping of his aura bar faded into the recesses of his mind.

"Dispell. Earth."

He strolled forwards as the gauntlet formed and when it was fully formed he leapt towards one of the still alive bear like grim. A quick glance for a name told him it was an Ursa and he jabbed forwards with a half cocked punch that connected with it's center of gravity. The hit forced it to take a step back but from what he saw it didn't have much effect other then that. The bear retaliated with an attempt to bat him away. It's arm swung towards him and he ducked under it while cocking a punch in one smooth motion. He heard the cylinder click in his head and he struck forwards. The fist connected with it's elbow and the cylinder depressed. A sickening crack echoed through the area as the Ursa's arm bent the wrong way and then vanished. Its roar came next and he felt a series of sharp objects slice through his ribs. It's remaining arm came back and he stared at the slick red substance that coated it's claws. He smiled somewhat and let one of his feet slide back as he pushed off it. His cocked fist connected with it's chest and he saw the bone plating crack. He avoided a stab and hit the plating again. This time it crumbled away and he quickly formed the earth dust into a spike and drove it through the beasts heart. It glared at him as it fell backwards and he let out a breath while he dispelled the dust. It scattered into the air and he noted the quiet rustling of the leaves as a rather pleasant breeze flowed across the clearing.

He rolled his shoulder to get a small kink out of it and he turned around to find a rather sharp looking rapier a few centimeters from his face. He followed the blade down to it's owner and saw the white haired owner. Fancy looking dress. High heels and a few vials of dust were the most interesting pieces he found on her. The three other girls also had their weapons pointed at him so he guessed that he probably wasn't too welcome.

"Who are you?" The white haired girl spoke. A strange chill ran down his back and he smiled.

Maybe he could play the mute... ooh that'd be fun... nah. It'd get boring too quickly.

He gave a slight bow of his head.

"Please. Call me Desmond."

He glanced back up and saw the glare he was receiving. He looked back at her blankly.

"Was there something you needed?" He inquired.

"Why are you here? This area was abandoned. There shouldn't be any civilians around."

He cocked his head to the side slightly.

"Is that so? Well I suppose I'm just unlucky to be here now aren't I? I'm not a civilian if you must know. I'm a dust mage."

He made a point by snapping his fingers and forming an equally sized blade to that of her rapier out of earth dust and pointing it at her. He smiled.

"I do ask that you not point that at me. It's rather dangerous."

He made a point by pressing his finger lightly against the tip and letting some blood run down his finger. She quickly pulled the weapon and herself back and he shrugged as he folded his arms in front of his chest.

"I've introduced myself. Now if you ladies would so kind. I'd like the names of the people I helped."

They stared at him for a moment and he stared back as he waited.

The red one with the large scythe answered first. Weapon still pointed in his direction.

"I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose. That's Weiss-" she gestured to the the white one with the rapier. "Yang-" then to the blond with the gauntlets "and that's Blake." The raven haired girl with the sword. "We're from Beacon. "

He nodded once as he let the information process.

"I see... nope. Doesn't ring a bell."

He took note of the unbelieving expression shot at him and he kept his emotionless look up as he waited for more information. It was Weiss who gave him something interesting.

"You don't know about Beacon?"

He shook his head.

"One of the four best academies for Hunters and Huntresses?"

He shook his head again.

"Where have you been living? Under a rock for the past century?"

He shrugged.

"Let's just say I've been a tad busy to delve into the world as it is shall we?"

They gave him odd looks again and he shrugged in return.

"Well this was an interesting exchange but I'll be leaving now. My business is done afterall."

He gave a nod towards the cloak clad leader figure and started walking away.

"Hey buddy. Who said you could leave?"

He stared at the blond blocking his path... were they gang members now?

"It just seemed our conversation over. So I saw it fit to freeze... ah sorry meant to say leave."

He subtly called upon his Freeze dust as he waited to see if she would move.

"Could we ask you some more questions? You seem a little lost." Ruby asked. She seemed quite a lot nice then the rest of them... Maybe she just wasn't as suspicious of him as the others.

He sighed quietly as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll play along i suppose. 1 question. Each. "

He moved over to a tree and leaned against it. He quickly glanced at his health and mentally whistled at how much that small scratch had made him lose.

The raven haired one. Blake if what he'd been told was true asked the first question.

"What exactly are you doing out here?"

He thought about the question for a second.

"Went for a stroll. Saw some grim. Killed said grim. Saw more grim. Saw you four in trouble. Thought I'd lend a hand."

The slight glare he got gave him the sense that he hadn't fully answered her question. He shrugged to signal that he was finished.

Next came Ruby.

"What's your semblance?"

He shrugged as he answered.

"Truth be told. I've got no idea. "

She look thoughtful at that. Not angry or annoyed like Blake. Just thoughtful.

He glanced at Yang.

"Who taught you to fight like that?"

"This?" He formed the some freeze dust into a spike before reforming it into a gauntlet. "Self taught with a little instruction from a combat maid."

"Combat maid? What's a combat maid?"

"Nope. You've used your question. One more left." He motioned to Weiss with his hand.

"That dust you use. Where did you get it?"

He stared up at the sky for a moment.

"Everything around us is made of dust. The trees. Ground. Animals. I simply convert things around me to dust... well. Times up. Till next we meet."

He pushed off the tree and reformed the freeze dust around him.

"Probably best if you four don't try any sudden movements. You may trip."

They looked down as he froze their feet to the ground. He bolted away and kept running for a fair distance. Once he felt he was far enough away he called all the dust back to him and dispelled the freeze dust.

An odd sensation ran through him as he let himself rest against a tree.

His vision blurred.

His skin burned.

His very soul seemed to start screaming.

All for a split second before it went back to normal. He stared at his hands and quickly opened the menu. He stared at the new symbol he saw. A question mark. With unknown effect next to it. And oddly enough a piece of text.

 **An ancient evil lurks. A new good grows. The moonlight shines. It's rays cleans impurities and reveals the true self. Reveal this effect under the light of a full moon.**

A blank look settled on his face as he shook his head and memorized the information. A flicker of light told him that Nono had appeared. He gave a nod to her as he spoke.

"Know of Beacon?"

He saw her concentrating. In an instant her look of pure focus shifted into one of surprise.

"I do... I do! It's a combat school. Teaches people to fight grim. It's notoriously hard to get into. Only 10% of applicants get in at the best of times. It's in... Vale."

He guessed that was a city and asked for a direction. She focused again and her look morphed into a disappointed glance at the ground as she shook her head. He shrugged.

"Oh well. Can't ask for too much I guess. Good job remembering Beacon. Now work on it." He flicked her ever so lightly on her chest and she recoiled while looking up at him.

"Head up. Back straight. Fly high. I said I'd treat you better. If you start groveling and beating yourself up over every failure then I won't have a reason to be nice. Kapiche?"

She nodded and he glared to emphasise his point.

"R-right. Okay. I'm happy. I'm good."

He nodded and picked a direction to walk.

It felt like it was going to be a long day of experimentation and grinding... joy...


	5. Chapter 5

His head was pounding as he woke. It probably had something to do with the strange dark room he found himself in. Dark and bland. He saw a table in front of him. He was on a seat behind it. Not exactly tied to it but he felt a strange pull that made him sit down.

A door was off in the far corner and he guessed that the wall it was attached to one way glass. It made sense with the whole interrogation room vibe he was getting. The quiet click of the door immediately made his head snap in it's direction and he watched as a man walked through. Silver hair, a cane and oddly enough a mug of coffee if his nose was to be believed. The man sat down without a word and looked at him.

"Desmond i believe?"

He gave a nod.

"You have... grey eyes."

He stared and gave a slow nod as he processed the comment.

"Um... yes... I do... who are you?"

The man smiled somewhat.

"Professor Ozpin. Headmaster of Beacon academy."

Beacon... He hadn't heard that name in two months if his body clock was right.

"I see... how did I get here?"

Again the man smiled. It was oddly infuriating.

"You were found stumbling around the nearby forest. You looked suspicious enough to be brought in for questioning. "

He nodded once again.

"Ah right... yeah I don't think eating random berries to satisfy your hunger is a good idea... probably were alcoholic to some degree."

An odd smile. Amused maybe? crossed Ozpins face and a moment of silence went through the room before Ozpin asked his next question.

"Do you know why I'm here?"

"To see if the lunatic outside what I'm guessing was your city was dangerous to it or not?"

"Not particularly no. I wonder. Do you recall a team RWBY during your trip in the forest."

He stared at the man and tilted his head for a moment.

"Were they being led by a red cloak clad girl with a distinctive scythe?"

Ozpin nodded.

"Nope. I have not seen nor heard of such a team."

"You're not curious as to how I know your name?"

He let his mind put two and two together. He shrugged.

"You mentioned team RWBY. Taking that into account it's easy to assume they had a note in whatever counts for a mission report here about me. I did save them and I'm sure my eyes are rather odd here."

"I'll thank you for that. They're a rather new team."

He smiled.

"I know the feeling. Nothing quite like saving a team of idiots before being threatened by one of them."

"I'm sure you'd like to know why you're here right?"

He glanced subtly to the side and saw a small flicker of light.

Nono? Later.

"Other then possible intoxication and suspicious lingering?"

"I'm here with... an offer. I've heard that your quite proficient with dust."

"Understatement of the day. I literally turn things to dust to fuel my abilities... call it a semblance."

"Yes well... we've been lacking a teacher with your... proficiency."

"Nope. Not working for you."

He saw the teachers eyes narrow ever so slightly. A miniscule change but he had a hunch something was coming.

"Then how about _with_ me. You will recieve compensation for your efforts. Access to all staff facilities and you even get a beacon mug. Quite rare I'm told."

He stared...

"Dress code?"

"Semi formal. No hyper casual but your current attire would be acceptable with the addition of a blazer.."

"Would I have to attend classes?"

"Only combat classes would be mandatory. You need to fight afterall to improve."

"I'm still learning to master my abilities... doesn't really reflect well on the students if the teacher doesn't know what they're doing."

"Its called mutual growth I believe. As they build on their abilities so will you. It's a success for both involved parties."

He stared as he let his mind focus on the details. He was getting the sense that Ozpin was willing to wait until he eventually relented. He decided to go off on a small tangent and see how well he reacted to it.

"Do you believe in alternate universes professor?"

He expected a look of confusion for the sudden question. He got a grin instead.

"A possibility for their existence exists."

"What if I was to say that this entire universe. All of this-" he motioned towards the room and then the roof "- was just pixels and polygons?"

"Like a game? I suppose I would accept that perception of reality but exist in my own. We are part of a larger picture. Every pixel. Every warped shape. It is up to the Hunters and Huntresses of the future and present to protect. Your acceptance would help strengthen these fighters."

He looked and his mind reminded him that Ozpin had turned the topic back to what it was originally. A glare crossed his face and he shook his head before holding it in one of his hands.

"Talk about relentless... I'd have to participate in mission's and other extracurricular activities?"

"Mainly observation and evaluation until you feel ready to do actual hunting."

He nodded and let his mind enter into one of its deep thought cycles. He focused entirely on this thoughts. Blocked out any unnecessary distractions as his energy was focused onto his mind. He could feel his mouth moving and words flowing out but he couldn't hear them. New pieces of information slowly filtered in.

Accommodation provided.

All expenses paid by the school.

Weapons could be bought and modified with the expense account.

Twenty students.

Comfy chair.

Mahogany table.

He slowly woke himself up from his deliberation and sighed quietly. He held out a hand to Ozpin.

"I suppose I'll take the job. Consider yourself lucky."

The man smiled and took his hand with a light shake.

"Luck is only a variable in an equation of fortune... you don't seem to have too much."

He rose an eyebrow at the comment but shrugged in agreement. For all he knew the guy was able to see into the future. No way could he have known exactly where he'd be at this exact moment any other way.

He looked around the room and then at Ozpin.

"What now?"

"Have you seen Beacon?"

He shook his head.

"Then I suggest you come with me."

He shrugged again and walked behind the man and his cane as he strolled out of the room at a leisurely pace. He looked to his side and recoiled ever so slightly when Nono appeared on his shoulder. Her normally transparent wings were now outlined in gold. Something to do with his level having reached a benchmark. He hadn't really been paying attention.

The new perk had distracted him at the time.

The shiny new **Heavy Melee** perk.

The shiny new perk that let him use greatswords... something he liked... quite a lot.

He reconsidered his choice and smiled minutely... He finally got to get a weapon... maybe a warhammer... or a battleaxe... A good greatsword wouldn't be amiss either if the system worked like he'd theorized. It was rather interesting. There were set attacks that the system helped to guide. A jab or uppercut being such examples but if you wanted it let you make your own attacks.

Rapid flurries of punches followed by a hard uppercut.

Heavy punches and staggering moves mixed together.

An endless ocean of opportunity stood before him and now that he was level 23 he felt excited to use his **enhanced Freeze dust.** He saw Ozpin look back and instead of the confused or startled reaction he'd expected he didn't receive any. Last time he checked, miniature people sitting on ones shoulder tended to garner a reaction. He asked Ozpin about it and all he got was a small comment about having seen "weirder things" then a fairy in his lifetime.

That comment got him thinking and he barely noticed the large ship he boarded. Cylindrical hull with a pylon and engine on each side. It also had leather seats in the cargo bay and he sat down.

His mind worked as he stared out into space. Though he focused on the city as well.

It was mediocre.

Called Vale apparently.

Had quite a few weapon stores of note.

Those three things were central in his mind as he waited. The last thing he saw shot all the thoughts out of his head.

He saw a floating school.

A _floating_ school.

His eyes widened significantly at the sight and he choked on the bottle of water he was emptying.

It was huge, though at the same time it seemed compact. A giant tower sat in the middle with buildings all around it... He got the sense of a lighthouse surrounded by rocks.

The craft which was apparently called a Bullhead landed and he stepped out onto the pavement. A sense of scale finally set in when he looked at the central tower and he whistled.

"Nice place you got here."

He could feel Ozpins calm smirk behind him.

"It is isn't It. Let's go to my tower. We can finalise the details there."

He rose an eyebrow but nodded nonetheless. He also made sure Nono hid in his pocket. He didn't know how people would react to the miniature person that was Nono just yet.

* * *

He let out a yawn as he slowly sat up. Well at least the beds were comfy. The staff quarters weren't too bad. They were large enough to comfortably house two people. Though he was lucky enough to be the only one in this particular room. It had the usual assortment of drawers and dressers. A walk in robe on both sides and it even had a spa. His body hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time. Maybe staying in a forest for as long as he had wasn't such a good idea.

He let himself fall back onto the bed and he lazily opened his menu. The white buttons appeared and he looked at the last one.

The character bio.

A fancy little tidbit that he'd overlooked when he first viewed the menu. It was interesting for a variety of reasons.

The first being that it wasn't completely available from the start. It was odd to be sure. Small parts were unlocked once a threshold was reached in either level or ability.

The second was because it was randomly generated. From what he'd had access to it seemed he was from Atlas. Wherever that was. He did note the rather cliché fact that his house had burnt down after both his parents vanished. Though he supposed the fact he wasn't left to wallow in the gutters was a good thing. The bio only seemed to update once a perk was chosen. Which explained why it talked about how he had been picked up by a richer huntsman. Who also died. He was beginning to see a trend here.

The bio ended shortly after explaining to him how he'd been brought up with various large scale weapons as his weapons of choice. Something he was rather glad for. It also explained his scary affinity for said weapons. He'd picked up one at the armory and given it a test swing ... He accidently ended up freezing a weapon rack solid... He had forgotten about his dust abilities in that moment.

He glanced at the greatsword leaning against the wall in front of him. It wasn't too big. Nothing like what some of the kids had. He took it to be around three quarters of his height. Which meant it was around 133cm in length. It was an odd color. He himself had a colour scheme of grey, white and a hint of blue. The blade. It was a glaring red. Maybe more like crimson... It was bright enough to be crimson he supposed. The edges were odd as well. Both sides were made of a black metal. So dark that he swore it wasn't there at night... possibly coated in vantablack was his guess. It was something of a relic apparently. Just a simple blade. No ranged weapon integrated into it.

He liked it.

He liked it a lot.

There was a strange elegance to the weapon itself. The way the handle flowed to the guard. The way the guard merged seamlessly with the blade itself. He saw a beauty to it. One he couldn't describe.

The beeping of his alarm broke him from his trance and he blinked as he jolted out of the bed. He shut off his alarm and grabbed the scroll while walking to his shower. He came out, got dressed and sheathed the blade while placing it onto his back. He rolled his shoulder while calling up his timetable.

 _First class of the year... let's hope it goes well._

He swiped over to the class list and glanced at it while he walked to the staff kitchen. He saw a few familiar faces in it. Mainly those of that team RWBY he'd heard about. Apparently they'd managed to decapitate a Nevermore on their initiation.

He shuddered as he remembered the grim. Razor sharp feathers. Enjoyed ramming things. Especially buildings. Somewhat smart.

He scanned over the rest of the list. His eyes landed on a certain white haired princess... heiress actually and he swiped a hand down to activate his codec. The book floated next to him as he walked the deserted halls and he quickly scanned it before dispelling it with a flick of his finger.

 _Rich and a good user of dust... good grades as well... A useful guinea pig_

He let out a yawn and quickly walked through the doors and bolted towards the coffee machine. He picked the strongest blend and walked up to the roof once it was finished. He sat with his feet over the edge and set his blazer over one of his shoulders. He gazed at the sunrise as it burned the sky. An orange radiance lit up the sky and he smiled while taking a swig of his drink. He felt his vision sharpen slightly as the post sleep haze finally receded. The blurry edges vanished and he blinked while rolling his neck. He glanced at the time on his scroll and shrugged as he walked to his classroom. He sat in the surprisingly comfortable chair and let his feet rest on the table as he inspected the room.

It was more like an auditorium. Very large with a central area that was large enough for demonstrating dust techniques. Chairs lined the area behind it and rose up to form a bowl of sorts. His desk sat in the middle and after some experimenting on his free day yesterday he'd discovered that it could lower into the floor. He took a second and walked over to the front of his desk before he sat down on it. He let his greatsword sit next to him against the edge and he waited.

A little while passed. Maybe twenty minutes and he picked out the smaller factors in the room with his gaze. The way the light reflected off the tables. The way the floor gently sloped upwards near the end of the mini arena in the center. The way the door swung open with a quiet click. He looked up and saw a somewhat amusing sight.

Ruby had her mouth wide open.

Weiss had a small look of shock.

Blake didn't seem too phased.

Yang was grinning with a hint of suspicion.

"Its- It's the barbarian!"

He stared straight at Weiss with a half glare as he processed the comment.

"Last time I checked, which was this morning, I was not a barbarian. I was a mage." He rolled his eyes and inclined his head into a semblance of a respectful nod. "Ladies. Welcome to Dust Studies. Pick a seat. Weiss. Your comment had earned you the honorary title of test dummy for this class. Get your combat gear and come to the center. "

He ignored her quiet shout of outrage at the title and made a shooing gesture with his hand. A few more minutes passed and the next two teams walked in. JNPR and AMBR if his scroll was right.

JNPR was interesting to him mainly because of their wonderfully idiotic leader. A guy who if his combat class records were anything to go by was one of the worst fighters he'd seen. One on one that was. As a team... The guy was terrifying. Both Ruby and he made up plans so ridiculous that they managed to somehow win. He glanced at his scroll for names.

Jaune Arc. Leader with the worst solo records in history. Even if his entry documents said otherwise. Someone to keep an eye on.

Nora Valkyrie. Energetic and hyperactive. He noted the various warnings that told him not to use electricity or sweets anywhere near her.

Pyrrha Nikos. A prodigy in terms of combat and grades on par with Weiss as well. Polarity semblance... almost untouchable in combat... an interesting challenge.

Lie Ren. A quiet person. Not much information in him other then the usual Beacon bits and pieces. His semblance seemed interesting though. He made a note to see if he'd be willing to test it out.

AMBR was one of the newer teams. Another team composed entirely of females... all of which were glaring at him for some reason... Maybe because of his ruffled hair? Might also have been their shared Atlas upbringing.

Audrey Aurburn. Another quiet and studious student. Purple hair that faded to blue near the tips. Blue eyes. Small stature. The main things he saw were with her near perfect eyesight and memory that bordered on photographic. He supposed it made sense that she used a sniper rifle. It also became a lance if his information was accurate.

Madeline Argus. Orange and red hair. Similar eyes with a colour split in one. A bionic replacement apparently. One of the richer families at Beacon. Not as rich as the Schnees but they had enough money to kit out their representative with some interesting equipment. A dust shotgun that also became something called a kinetic repeater. He'd never heard of the weapon but he made a note to get her to fight him with it.

Barbra Stein. Blue hair. Cyan eyes. Tall. She was maybe an inch taller then him. Not that he minded but it was a good thing to notice now. Went to haven for a month before transferring here. He found it strange that she was born in Atlas yet she went to Haven. Another note to question. The brawler of the group. Dangerous up close. Fast too. A fun combination to fight.

Last but not least was Reiley Argus. Older sister to Madeline by half a year... and a faunus too apparently. He glanced at her as her team went and sat down. He noticed the almost invisible wolf ears that matched her red hair. Interesting to note. The girl had a similar loadout to Madeline as well. A dust based pistol and another kinetic repeater... He was getting the sense that the Argus family was known for their ability with the weapons... Maybe it was a trademark weapon... hmm.

He gave his scroll a quick flick and noticed the eight blank spots in his roster. He tapped one and saw the large array of people he could choose from. He closed the piece of tech and stood up. The action having it's intended effect as the three teams wound down their chatting and focused on him. He stood in silence for a moment as he scanned the room and then the clock.

Twenty minutes gone.

Weiss isn't back yet.

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. He let a calm smirk on his face and turned his head over to Ruby.

"Rose. Be a dear and see if you can find Weiss for me will ya?"

"Ok."

With that she disappeared into a flurry of rose petals and he sighed with how he'd have to clean that up. He leaned a tad more onto his back foot and looked over at AMBR and then JNPR.

"To those of you who don't know me. I'm Desmond Electrisch." He waited for the hushed chatter to disappear. An odd thing as last time he'd checked, he didn't have a reputation. "Yes, yes very fancy. You've all been selected for this little extension class because of your higher then average dust expertise. Whether that be it's use in weaponry-" he swept his hand over JNPR and the two remaining members of RWBY. "Or your ability to manipulate and control it with your abilities." He then swept his other hand over AMBR. "That's not really what I care about though. What I care about... is how well you all fight. With dust as a base."

He went back to sitting on the table and used his greatsword like a pointer. He let out an audible hum as he thought of a question while he waited for Ruby and Weiss to get back.

"Nikos. Explain to us what Aura is. It's elementary yes but let's see if you can get it right."

He saw her stand up and he let her pick what she wanted to say.

"Aura is the physical embodiment of the soul. It acts as a force to protect us from harm and carry our burdens. A stronger soul will always generate a stronger aura."

He nodded and she sat down. He took a breath and cracked one of his knuckles.

"Your somewhat right." He heard the collective gasp and laughed. "Did you all seriously expect her to get that question perfectly right?" He shook his head. "To quite a large extent Miss Nikos is correct. But you forgot one very important fact. Aura is a shield yes. But it also can be used as a weapon."

He added to his point by thrusting his index and middle finger out and letting out a breath. A small spike of white aura outlined in blue appeared and he flicked it in the direction of one of the sleeping AMBR girls. Madeline if his gaze was correct. The spike drove itself into the table with a loud bang and the girls recoiled while Madeline jolted awake and glared at him with a reasonable about of anger. He gave her a blank look and flicked his hand back. The spike returned followed by him catching and crushing it.

With almost perfect timing the door opened and Ruby walked back in. She shook her head and he rose an eyebrow while glancing over at his scroll. He pressed a button on it's surface and shook his head.

"Right. Well. Today was supposed to be a combat demonstration and development lesson but as Miss Schnee is apparently missing we'll have to do something else... Rose. Get your scythe. Fast as you can."

She gave another nod and bolted out. A second later she was back with her scythe in hand.

"Opposite side of the oval." He kicked the front of his desk lightly and grabbed the scroll as the mahogany table sunk into the ground along with his chair. He let the scroll sit in his pocket and holstered the sword behind him. "As I said before. Today was supposed to be a combat development lesson between Miss Schnee and I with all of you taking notes. But I'll be having a fight with Miss Rose instead. Make sure to take notes. This'll be on the test." He heard the collective groan and smiled. He glanced up and saw the almost transparent blue field of energy that domed the little arena.

He held his hands behind his back and put one of his feet forward.

"Miss Rose. Whenever your ready."

She adopted a look of focus and he saw her start to blur as time slowed momentarily. It returned to normal and he bent his body completely backwards as she shot past him with her scythe slicing the air where his waist would have been. He straightened himself out and kicked himself back while keeping an eye on the reaper. She came at him with another recoil propelled charge and he side stepped her attack while focusing some of his freeze dust into the ground under him. He stepped back and she repeated her previous attack with a hint more flair though. A twirl of her scythe as she pulled the trigger. Then she face planted. Hard.

He winced and waited for her to get back up.

"Rose. You're the sniper of your team. You should be observant on the battlefield. A trap like this could lead to your death. Worse the death of one of your teammates. Also what's with the plain attacks? I've seen your sparring matches. They have so much more energy."

She stumbled to her feet and shot the ice with the gun on her scythe. It shattered as she talked.

"You don't have your weapon out. I can't fight you like that. It's unfair."

A sense of honour... rare. He let out a smile and focused.

"Dispel. Earth."

The earth dust formed the usual overly large gauntlet. He cocked his fist back and waited. She nodded and he saw her rapidly rotate her scythe before planting the tip into the ground. A gunshot made him smile and he formed a shield of earth instead of his gauntlet. He gave it a smooth front and then angled it sharply giving it a v like appearance as he walked forwards. The rounds impacted with some serious force. Each one making him stop for a fraction of a second. Though quite a few bounced off the sloped sides and he smiled as they did. The shooting stopped and he quickly formed the shield into a gauntlet as he blocked. His guess was proven right and the armored part of his gauntlet met the point of her scythe. In one movement he reached for the handle and pulled her forwards. She was thrown off balance and as he moved he swept her legs out from under her while letting his fist meet the ground next to her as she hit the concrete. He noted the cracks from the force of his punch and he dispelled the gauntlet while pulling the leader up to her feet.

"Well done. A little bland in terms of the beginning but your analysis was pretty good. Two things to work on. One. Watch your feet. Two. _Never_ let go of your weapon." He pointed to scythe that had been flung away from her. "You'll die once that's happened."

He heard the audible gulp but she nodded nonetheless and he turned back to the others. He saw surprise, awe and a hint of fear. It was a refreshing sight and so he crossed his arms in front of him as the bell for the end of class rang.

"I want a report on that fight in a week. Five page minimum with at least a page of observations and improvements for _both_ of us."

He heard a groan and rolled his eyes as he waited for the kids to leave. Once the door closed reached for his greatsword and swung it in a few patterns. The system made what would've been jancky and horribly imprecise cuts into fluid smooth sweeps of his blade. He kept the motions up for an hour at least and once he was sure his muscles had memorized the movements he went to sheathe the weapon. A ringing made him freeze and in a quick motion he spun around with his sword following the motion. He stared at the bronze clad knight in front of him. A longsword made from bronze coloured metal glinted and it swung at him. He blocked the blade and moved a good distance away with a leap. His feet hit the ground and he lunged forwards with his sword trailing behind him. He let himself keep going and ducked under a swing from the knight. His foot hit the ground hard and he turned his body with the step. The sword kept it's momentum as it completed its arc and met the side of the knight. The wickedly dark edge cleaved through the armor and he jammed the edge into the ground to stop it. The knight dissolved into the air and he breathed heavily as the fatigue hit him. He fell backwards and breathed slowly, his sword still embedded in the ground next to him.

The quiet sound of bells made him crack one of his eyes open and he stared at Nono who was sitting on his chest.

"You're getting better. "

He rose an eyebrow at her and let his head fall back to the ground.

"I've had two days to learn how to master a massive sword. Your sarcasm is a a good surprise but you've been using it too much."

"Eh. No that wasn't sarcastic. I was complimenting you. Look at yourself. You can actually teach people now. Tell them how to fight. To live."

He shook his head and put a hand against the blade of his greatsword.

"I'm only alive because of your holy barriers. Two months. In two months I almost died over a hundred times. Fucking grim."

He saw a strangely stern glare from her. It looked more adorable then stern from his perspective.

"You're a teacher now. You can't swear."

He gave her a blank look in reply and slowly pushed himself to his feet. She flew up and hovered next to him as he sheathed his sword.

"Bite me."

He shook his head and then cracked his neck before looking over at the fairy.

"In other news. Weiss has gone missing..."

She tilted her head a little and let out a hum.

"Weiss... The princess type girl? With a rapier?"

He nodded and her eyes narrowed.

"I saw her get dragged off by some people an hour ago."

He stared at her with a half surprised expression as he sighed.

"You didn't tell me this because?"

"You were in class. I'm not going to disturb you over such a trivial thing."

He felt his jaw drop for a fraction of a second.

"Kidnapping is _not_ a trivial matter. It's quite the opposite. Who took her?"

He was waiting for the conveniently timed amnesia trope to kick in.

"Um..." she racked her brain. "Three people. I think. One had a strange weapon with them. Really long and cyclonic. I think one was a woman. In. A. Gold and white dress... that's all I could I see."

"No faces? Symbols?"

"I think... one of them had a small lotus... with a Beowolf on one side... I think."

He stared at the ground and let out a hum before nodding.

"Lets go chat with Ozpin. He hopefully will know more."

She nodded and he walked in the direction of Ozpin and his office.

 _Kidnapping... It's always God damn kidnapping!_


	6. Chapter 6

"You're sure your information is accurate?"

He glanced at Ozpin and shrugged as he leaned against one of the windows.

" 'bout as sure as I can be. I mean she has amnesia that kicks in at the worst times so it's possible that some details aren't as clear as she saw them to be."

"Hey!"

He looked at Nono and her glare and he tapped her on her head with one of his fingers.

"You're fine for now. " he turned back to Ozpin "She's been with me long enough I suppose... so yeah her stuff's accurate. Know something?"

The headmaster let out a hum and reached under his desk. He pulled out his scroll and Desmond wondered over to the table while he looked at the small symbol on it. Nono gasped.

"That's it! That's the symbol."

"It's the PAC then... quite a brazen attack to abduct someone straight from our school."

He looked at Ozpin and took on a look of confusion.

"The PAC?"

"A faunus rights group based out of Mistral. They _were_ a faunus rights group. Now they're the equivalent of terrorists."

"Great, just what we needed. Do we know anything on them?"

"From what I've heard they're not very big fans of the Schnees. To the point where they attacked the Schnee castle once."

He stared and nodded as the information processed.

 _She's definitely rich..._

"So they're either smart enough to get past Beacons defenses or they used Beacon students to grab her?"

"The latter would be more likely. Any air traffic in and out of the school is monitored and as such it should be possible to locate a transport of sorts that landed and left the docks soon."

He let out a hum and nodded before walking out. He stood in the elevator as it slowly descended and saw his arm flicker briefly. A flash of white bone appearing before his arm returned. He shook his head and smiled as the elevator dinged.

* * *

The door to his room slammed shut and he put his greatsword against the wall as he sat down between the two beds. He crossed his legs and focused for a moment as he shut his eyes. He let out a breath and slowly opened his eyes again. A myriad of multicolored dust met his eyes. It spanned out in all directions and moved in wavy lines. He focused more and the walls lost the dust they had, as did the doors and windows. All he could see were the people and the dust that clung to their bodies and weapons.

The ability called **Sight of Dust** had been hard to get. It had taken him the good part of his first month with nothing but pure practice to be able to narrow it down to this level and even then he knew he could refine it further. The ability let him see the world as a composition of the dust that made it up. Each strand was a different colour and the various colours had the potential to blind him if he opened his eyes too quickly. He preferred it because it let him find people. Each person had a specific type and amount of dust on them. Each aura trapped different forms of dust. Each weapon absorbed dust at different rates.

It only made it harder to find people. But he kept focusing on the specific type of **freeze dust** he was looking for. He looked out of his window and saw the thin strand of blue and white dust and he jumped down to follow the trail. It led him to one of the landing pads where it shot off into the air and off solid ground. He blinked three times in rapid succession and canceled the ability. He felt the usual disorientation as the colours died away and the world took on it's usual spectrum. He stood up from where he'd crouched down and stared out at where the dust trail had continued. He narrowed his eyes.

* * *

Idiots.

Every last one of them.

She glared at the two armor clad guards that stood with her.

Was she supposed to do everything around here?

The two men winced and took a step back as she held her head in one of her hands.

"We had this planned... _planned..._ for months. And you two morons forgot to search her for her scroll... for four freaking days?!"

One of the men bumbled incoherently while the other sighed quietly.

"We didn't think she'd have it on her. Students don't normally take them to class."

She shook her head again as she hit it against the hull of their transport. The silver metal didn't budge as she tapped her forehead against it. She brought her head back up and gave the bumbling man a stronger glare and he shrunk down.

"I guess we'll have to go and talk to her... let's hope she cooperates."

"Ma'am."

They both snapped a salute that only made her angrier but she buried the anger and walked through the door making sure her skirt didn't get caught in the doorway.

 _At least they didn't rough you up too badly._

The Schnee's aura had already gotten to work fixing the bruise the two idiots had inflicted. This wasn't how it was supposed to go but the plan continued.

The white dress clad girl was slumped in the chair. Ropes tied around her that she doubted would hold against her if she struggled too much. The girl was struggling. Though it seemed more subdued then she expected. More cunning. Focused. She let the back of her knuckle rap against the metal hull and the girl's eyed shot over to her.

A frosty glare met her. She smiled as she stood in front of the girl.

"Hope the ropes aren't too tight. Wouldn't want you burning yourself from that." She walked around the chair and stared at the ropes. The very loosely tied ropes.

The idiots couldn't even tie a knot properly.

A few quick movements and she heard her groan as the ropes bit into her hands and feet. She walked back to face her and the same glare met her.

"Come now Schnee. Did you really expect to escape that easily? Sure the lugheads are well... lugheads but I guess that's why I'm here." She shook her head to emphasise how much she hated working with the idiots. "Now. Where's your scroll?"

She got silence in return.

"I think it's best if you answer. I can get into your head and find it myself but I prefer to give people at least one chance... even if they don't deserve it."

More silence made her raise an eyebrow as she shrugged.

"If that's how you want it..."

She let her semblance kick in. She watched as her eyes flickered through their usual coloured sequence through the reflection in the Schnee's. Red, yellow,orange,blue,orange,red. Again and again the lights flickered and eventually a blank look covered the heiresses face.

"Now. Let me ask you again. Where's your scroll sweatheart?" She let the tip of her finger slide over the bottom of the heiresses chin to make sure her control was valid.

A tired almost strained tone graced her. Resistance. So refreshing a change.

"Its...get...out"

She felt her smile flicker lightly. A strong mind wasn't always useful. Especially not now.

"I asked nicely. Where's your scroll sweetheart?"

"...i...it...my...No!"

A sigh left her lips and she shook her head.

"Guess I'll have to break your mind at this rate... what do you value huh? Family?"

A flicker of light but nothing more.

"The longer you keep me here. The more likely it is you'll fail"

"Oh I'm sure. Let me guess. Your friends will find and stop me? Or maybe your sister will? Well your sister isn't coming. She's preoccupied at the moment. Now how about your friends? If they come well... they won't leave with their lives."

She saw the Schnee's expression twitch with a hint of fear.

"Oh you do value them... well... let's see how this works."

She snapped her fingers after a second. The look of horror that was frozen onto the Schnee's face made her grin for a moment before she walked out.

 _Ten minutes should do._

She sat in the chair and closed her eyes as the horror filled yelling started.

Five minutes passed and the sound in the room stopped. It stopped all at once. She glared at the door and made a motion with her hand while she reached for the revolver on her hip. It's blue barrel was glowing with energy and she pointed it at the door as the two guards opened and entered.

She wasn't an idiot like these two. She hung back and let them scope out the room in case the girl had broken her control and trapped the place. They gave a negative and she slowly walked in. The girl was still there. Dried tears coating her face. A dead and equally souless look her eyes as they followed her. She kneeled down in front of her and looked her dead in the eye.

"Where's your scroll sweetheart?"

"My... breast pocket."

She heard the pause and narrowed her eyes at the girl. A hint of resistance... not safe. She activated her semblance again and strengthened the control threefold as a precaution while grabbing the scroll from her pocket and shattering it against the wall.

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen... this was too messy... but the plan continues.

* * *

His smile grew as the blinking red dot vanished. It had taken a while to find the tracking feature on his scroll and he found himself cursing his inability to use the holographic tech as he stumbled through menu after menu.

The handy little feature let him find students through their scrolls. It was hidden to the students of course but he wasn't complaining.

He traced a line from where he'd started tracking to where the signal had vanished and the smile grew into a small grin as he compared it with where Weiss and her dust trail had gone.

 _Found you._

He kicked off the wall he'd been leaning against and pocketed his scroll as he surrounded his feet in fire dust and jumped.

He landed on the balcony attached to Ozpins tower and he saw the small smile on his face as he stared right at him.

It was creepy.

Like he knew he'd be there before he was.

He shut down the shudder and walked through the open door while putting his scroll on the table. It lit up and the holographic map projected out of it.

"I assume you've found her?"

He shook his head as he sighed.

"Its a rough estimate based on three days of data collection." He let out a breath. "Never did like that part of searching for people"

"These points here?" Ozpin nodded to a few points labeled with small circles.

"They've stopped at each of them for a small period of time... if it's a stealth craft then I'm guessing that they're dumping heat or something. Could be recharging their engines as well."

Ozpin nodded once more as he looked at the map. Desmond felt one of his senses kick in and he turned his head to the elevator to see it open with a ding. A man in a blue flightsuit walked out with a visor in his hands and stopped when Ozpin looked up.

"Ah Mr Azzo. Right on time"

"You called, I came Headmaster. What's the job?"

"Desmond requires a flight."

"Just him?"

Ozpin looked at him and he looked back for a moment before letting out a hum.

"I want RWBY and JNPR. I need shields in case things go bad... A sniper there hurts either."

The blue suited man nodded as he put the visor on and tapped it twice.

"Sal. Spin up two Accel-class bulkheads and get then to the pad... yeah I know we're still testing them... no I'm not suicidal. Look just do it okay? "

He heard the announcement for RWBY and JNPR echoing from underneath him and watched as the man went back down the elevator after telling him he'd have to wait ten or so minutes before they were ready.

He looked over at Ozpin who smiled again.

"Drake Azzo. One of the pilots for second year bullheads."

Desmond nodded and walked past Ozpin as he grabbed his scroll.

"She'll be back soon enough..." He paused halfway through the door as a thought struck him. "Can I get the location of any towns along the way... specifically the destroyed ones on the trajectory."

Ozpin nodded and he inclined his head in thanks as he jumped down from the balcony.

* * *

The tension was almost a solid block in the bullhead. It was somewhat annoying. Though this was a rescue mission so he guessed that it made sense. He'd had RWBY go in the other bullhead while JNPR and he were in this one.

He stared at the group as they did their own things. Ren and Nora were talking quietly while Pyra was shinning her shield. A rather relaxed atmosphere over in that section of the bullhead. Then came Jaune.

The guy was filling the cargo compartment with so much tension he might as well have been ready to snap. The way he tapping his foot while looking at the scroll in his hand only served to spread the tension faster. It was also getting on his nerves.

He glared at Jaune out of the corner of his eyes and while doing so he adjusted the pauldrons on his shoulders. The shiny grey surface had a rather stark contrast with his dress shirt but he valued the protection more then the colour. They weren't too stylised either. Each one was enhanced with a hint of earth dust to make sure they wouldn't break if he took a warhammer to the shoulder... It happened once and only once.

He mentally winced as he remembered the pink mist of dust that had surrounded his head after he took the hit. He shook it and looked back over at Jaune. He noted how Pyrrha had walked up to him and started helping him with what he was doing. Forming plans if the screens reflection was anything to go by.

He rotated the sheathe on his back and made sure it fully traversed his back. Once he was happy with the rotating sheathe he pulled the blade out and stared at his reflection in it. He recoiled for a moment when his skin flickered and he saw the skeleton underneath but as soon as he blinked he was back to normal. He glared and flicked his sword while sheathing it over his shoulder. It clicked into place and he clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention.

"Well then. As I'm sure Jaune over here knows. He's in charge of this little mission. Usual combat rules apply. Stay alive and kill only if you must. I'm only observing for now so it'll be up to you to do this."

He saw Jaune about to ask a question as he closed his scroll.

"All we have to is get Weiss and run right?"

He shrugged.

"If that's how you want to play it then by all means do so." He glanced up slightly. "Drake. How long till we're over the town."

The speakers buzzed.

"Twenty minutes to Farreach."

The abandoned city definitely sounded like a good place to keep someone. Plus the frequency of stops the transport had done and the distance it traveled before stopping both matched close enough for him to feel confident that the thing would be there. It was abandoned too. Always great. Especially if it was full of grim... He hoped it wasn't.

The time passed and he saw Jaune switch to what he'd dubbed as 'Leader mode'. His confidence seemed to skyrocket and he started giving orders in a surprisingly efficient and sensible manner.

Ruby would get up high and scout.

No shooting to try and maintain their cover.

Ren would go with Ruby for extra security.

Main targets for now were the storage warehouse and manor.

Those were the bits he picked up and so he nodded slightly as he leaned against the hull. He felt the shudder through the craft as it slowed down and he opened the door as it descended past the cloud layer it had hidden in. The roar of the quad engine setup the bullhead had gave him some background noise and as the ground came up he motioned for JNPR to go ahead. He sat down on the edge as the four of them jumped out and as soon as they left he felt the craft rise up again. The city became a large speck and then vanished as the ship hovered in the clouds. He felt a smile grow and he spread both his hands to the side. A recreation of the city appeared made out of the various types of dust and he noted the large red blob of dust that appeared in the storage warehouse. His eyes narrowed and he told Drake to get them above the building just in case.

His senses tingled.

His eyes narrowed.

* * *

 _ **Hello all of you wonderful readers. This is pretty short for a chapter huh? Well don't be too disappointed. Let's say that I've got a pair of future chapters that are a bit longer. Also... magic and action shall ensure in the future. Look forwards to them.**_

 _ **Please do Review or PM me if you have any issues or recommendations. Advice is welcome as well.**_

 _ **Till next time.**_


	7. Chapter 7

The blade on his back grew heavier as he waited.

The tips of his fingers kept burning as he waited.

His eyes narrowed as he waited.

It had been around an hour since the group had landed and the map he had showed that they were still only halfway to the two buildings.

It made sense he supposed. They were being cautious and Jaune was being a good leader and listening to everyone as they moved.

He was amazed at the change in the kids personality. One minute he was an idiot who could barely hold a shield and the next he became a tactical prodigy. It was astonishing.

The group of seven students had stuck mostly together with the offshoot being Ren and Ruby who were up on the roof of a church. He assumed Ruby was using her scope to scout out ahead while Ren provided rear security... He had to give it to Jaune.

He wasn't bad.

People tended to leave the sniper by themselves. Sure they were meant to take shots from a distance but he knew how dangerous isolating someone when there was the possibility for grim to appear was... he'd been on the receiving end of too many ambushes to count in his two months of forest life.

The hum of the bullheads engines reverberated through the hull and he used the background noise to help organise his thoughts as the seven blue dots moved through his three dimensional dust recreation of the city. He heard the whir of a door and glanced over to see Drake walk into the cargo bay.

"How's observing the kids going?"

He stared at the pilot and then leaned against the wall.

"They're making progress. Slow progress but I won't fault them for being over-cautious."

Drake nodded as he stared at the map.

"You're pretty handy with dust. Never seen someone do this before."

He chuckled as he shrugged.

"A little imagination goes a long way. Besides. Varying my skills is something I aim to do. Never is a good idea to stick to one skill set. You get hard countered then."

The pilot nodded again before pointing to the map.

"What's the green dot?"

He followed the finger and felt his eyebrows rise slightly as he looked at the dot Drake had pointed out.

"No idea... I hadn't noticed it..." he glanced over at his map on the scroll. "That's where the manor sits... magnify"

The map zoomed in and he saw a more detailed image of the mansion made of red dust.

"Its in the basement huh?" He let his mind wander for a bit and then looked over at Drake. "I'm gonna go have a look. Call when the group gets close to the warehouse."

The pilot nodded and Desmond calmly walked off the edge. The wind rushed through his hair and he smiled at the oddly relaxing feeling... who knew sprinting to your death at breakneck speed was this much fun?

He approached the ground and twisted his body in mid air with the help of his aura. He landed with a thump as the fire dust around his feet flared. The smell of burning plants and dirt met his nose as he looked at where he'd landed.

A garden spread out around him. Most of it was dead or in the process of dying with pots overturned and plants flattened. He nodded as he walked towards the building. It was large. Not as large as the church building but it exuded as a sense of wealth. Engraved pillars and stained windows reflected the light and shards of glass crunched under his feet as he entered through the non-existent door. He closed his eyes and took a breath as he focused.

 **Sight of dust** activated and he felt his eyes drift under him. He slowly scanned the floor and saw the odd green dot that was huddled in one of the corners. He walked until he was close enough and stood in place for a moment.

"Earth"

He dispelled his sight and felt the ground crack under him as the brown and green crystals formed on his arm. He didn't give the crystals a shape and instead instructed them to make a hole. A ring of crystals formed about a meter in diameter with him in the center. The ring rotated at high speed and sawed through the decaying wood quickly. The floor he was on gave way and he fell with the circle under him. He crouched as he landed and felt his eyes widen at what he found.

The thing in front of him was small. About sixty centimeters from head to tail. It had the head of a fox and a strange spherical body. Green fur that became white under it's belly covered it and the fluffy tail tipped with a small green flame that it had was moving slightly. It growled at him before backing away as far as it could into the corner.

"Hey is okay. I'm not here to hurt you."

The fox like creatures ears slowly perked up but it stayed where it was as it growled at him.

He glanced to his side as he kneeled down and brought out his inventory.

 _Well here goes lunch..._

He reached into the inventory and in a flash of light he pulled out a small leather pouch. He unlocked the latch and carefully pulled out a pair of dried strawberries. He held them out to the fox and waited.

It sniffed the air as it's nose caught the sweet scent. It took slow careful steps and he noticed the deep looking cut on one of its hind legs. He glanced around his menu for a heal spell but failed to find one. He let out a groan at that and then a mental one as the fox scrambled back to it's hiding spot.

"Its okay. Look food."

He slowly moved his hand a little forwards and waited as the fox moved towards it. It's two front paws quickly snatched one of the pieces and it dashed back to it's corner. He put some more fruit onto his hand as he waited as the creature came back for more. It moved a little faster each time and moved away from the corner a step at a time.

Eventually it stopped running away from him and looked at him with expectant eyes. He laughed quietly and gently patted the top of its head as he looked up.

"Wanna come on an adventure little guy?"

It let out a growl.

"Little girl?"

It let out something like a high pitched bark and his heart shattered.

It was so adorable...

Wait... he couldn't think like that.

The creatures wagging tail moved back and forth and it's large olive coloured eyes kept looking at him before it let out a bark and floated.

He was pretty sure his jaw dropped as he watched her. The creature manipulated the cushion of wind under it and then sat on one of his pauldrons. She tapped the metal surface with one of her small paws before she curled up on it.

He carefully made a platform of dust underneath him and slowly lifted himself out of the hole.

Once he was on the solid wood surface he walked outside and stared at the darkening sky as the fox creature barked happily on his shoulder.

"It is good to be outside isn't it?" A thought occurred in his head. "You need a name."

The creature tilted it's head to the side in confusion.

"Let's see..." He let the various names in his head filter out. "Paula?"

It growled.

"Panta?"

Another growl though it was quieter.

"Ponta?"

It gave a bark and he smiled slightly.

"Ponta it is."

He then noted the oddity he'd been feeling. There wasn't any sound. Not even the wind.

He stared and looked up as he tapped his scroll. Drake picked up.

"Where's the group?"

"Warehouse. Just got there. Waiting for Ruby and Ren."

"Tell them to wait till I get there. No opening the doors or window peeking."

He could hear the shrug in Drakes nonchalant reply and he crouched slightly as he reformed the earth dust into a pair of greaves and boots. Sadly he didn't have reinforce yet but the higher level on his earth dust let him make two boots and greaves. He still could only make one gauntlet though. Each boot was brown with a green stripe on one side. A pair of cylinders were visible on either side of the boots and they glowed briefly as he crouched.

Ponta seemed to notice the stance change and he felt her wrap herself around his neck like a scarf. He chuckled quietly as he focused.

He sprung upwards and the cylinders depressed as he did. The concussive bang sent him high into the air and he flipped once before landing on a platform of dust. He kicked off that and flew straight towards the warehouse. His body neared the ground and he rolled as he landed to disperse his momentum. He sprung up and stared at the group who were watching him with wide eyes.

He shrugged and motioned Jaune to continue what he had been doing before.

He saw him and Pyrrah settle in front of the door with their shields out and the glanced back to see Ruby a few meters away behind a wall with her scythe braced against a blown out window. The others were spread out against the wall and he nodded briefly in his head at the standard layout for a breach. He stood off to the side and waited as Jaune gave a nod to Pyrrah and opened the door. The moment he did a stream of ice shot him backwards off his feet and into a wall. The building itself then seemed to detonate as time slowed down.

Ice exploded outwards in all directions and he saw it spread all the way to his feet. He was protected considering how he was standing on a platform of dust but when he looked at the others he saw they were trapped in the ice that covered their arms and legs. He whistled at the destruction and Ponta let out a quiet growl as she jumped off his shoulder and tapped the smooth surface under her feet with her paw. She deemed it uninteresting and with a burst of wind returned to his shoulder. He smiled lightly and walked over the ice. He came to the entrance and stared at the person he saw.

"Hell of an introduction Schnee. Very chilling."

He saw the flash of her rapier and he calmly stepped back as Ponta became a scarf again. He kept moving backwards as her surprisingly fast stabs came at him. They missed by millimeters as he moved his body with the bare minimum amount of effort and once he felt the space around them was enough he caught the blade in his hand as he looked into her eyes. He felt his smile vanish.

Soulless eyes stared back at him. No emotion on her face. A glyph sprung to life under her as she wretched her rapier out of his hands and he saw her get faster. Multiple glyphs formed a dome around him and he formed a gauntlet as he waited. She slid forwards on another glyph and nimbly dodged the half hearted punch he sent at her before leaping onto one of the glyphs. She then rapidly struck at him while using the glyphs to attack from every direction in succession.

He kept twisting and turning his body so any attack that got close merely glanced off one of his pauldrons or the sheathe of his sword. She got to the last glyph and her attack soared towards him. He let the rapier skid off his gauntlet and grabbed her arm. Her momentum kept her going in one direction while he threw her in the other. She skidded across the ground before flipping and skidding on her heels.

He closed his eyes for a second and focused as he searched the nearby currents of dust.

His vision drifted over to one of the buildings and his smirk returned as he cracked his neck and opened his eyes. Weiss was charging again and he calmly let the situation play out as her blade hit his aura. He even weakened the resistance as she rushed past and he let his body fall slowly to the ground. Ponta being the smart fox creature that she was held on and didn't make a sound as he landed. The clicking of heels against stone alerted him to a new presence and he waited for them to get close to Weiss. They did so rather quickly and in one movement he quickly rose while jamming his fist into the ground. The cylinder fell and and a concussive shockwave propelled him into the air. He backflipped and landed on his feet in front of the two women.

He noted the new additions features.

A skirt that ended at her knees. A blue one with a few stripes of crimson.

A blouse that fitted tightly to her chest and seemed to emphasise her curves.

The scales on her legs and her scarlet eyes as well as her blue tipped hair.

She gave a dismissive glance in his direction as she reached for her revolver and pointed the hand cannon at him.

Her voice rung out and he swore he heard a voice in the back of his head.

"I didn't think we'd attract a hunter... how did you find us?"

He felt an odd compulsion to answer. He stared at the woman for a moment and his vision immediately settled on her rapidly shifting eyes. He closed his eyes and let **sight of dust** illuminate his surroundings.

"Why would I tell my enemy the way I tracked them? That's just stupid."

"Because I'm asking nicely. You want to tell little old me don't you?"

Her voice kept ringing in the back of his head and a name appeared... one he was sure he'd heard before... which was odd because he himself had never known anyone with that name.

"Not really no. Though I'm sure you, Nyte wouldn't know that."

She didn't recoil like he expected. Well not as much. She took a slight step back but it was minimal. He could assume that she was glaring now.

"So it is you... you should be dead. I stabbed you through your heart."

He shrugged.

"Asshole gods don't tend to let you die so easily." His memories flickered "especially when you get stabbed in the back. But let's not linger. Give me back my student."

He took a step forwards and deflected a bullet while adding a buckler to the forearm of his gauntlet. He then added two sharp points that went past the tips of his fingers as he bolted forwards as his eyes opened. He didn't miss the smirk on her face and felt something barrel into his side. He stared at the white hair and rolled his eyes as he flipped and landed. Nyte giggled away behind her personal shield.

"I don't think I'll do that. Besides... she's mine now."

He rose an eyebrow and stared Weiss straight in the eye. He let out a sigh as he took a step back. He relaxed his posture and watched as Weiss charged. He rapier aimed at his chest.

He let the dust become his boots and jumped as her blade got close. He landed on the point of her sword and the concussive blast was followed by sounds of twisting metal. He landed and used the gauntlet as he formed the dust into it to deliver a hard uppercut straight into the bottom of her jaw. He saw her eyes roll up into the back of her head and he carefully put her against a wall. He thought for a moment and summoned some ice dust while freezing her in place.

He heard clapping and turned around to face Nyte with no idea why he knew her name.

She let out a hum.

"You're not bad."

He stared at her and reached behind him. A series of clicks rung through the air and he pulled his blade off his back with it's black metal sheathe still attached. The dark metal was made out of the same material as the edges of his greatsword. A white aura seemed to appear around it like a black hole sucking up light.

She narrowed her eyes and he saw he put her gun away. She pulled out two hair pins from her hair and he kept a neutral expression as they expanded and formed a pair of blue bladed swords. She took on a stance as she smiled.

"You got a new weapon? Fancy~."

He pushed off towards her and his sword followed behind him. He felt his foot hit the ground and he swung at her with most of his strength. He watched in horror as his attack was effortlessly deflected with one of her swords while the other one cleaved through the air. He felt one of the cylinders in his boots depress and he flipped over the blade. His other boot sent it's own blast of force when he was parallel to the ground and he went flying away from her. He skidded against the ground and in a smooth movement got to his feet and held his sword with both hands. She was still smiling.

"Did you really think you'd beat me that easily~? One strike and I'd crumple~?" She started laughing. "Please. I'm not some glass cannon. " she smirked "I've fought with you for years. Even if your little trick with dust is new. With a sword. You can't beat me."

Her swords started to glow and he heard an odd sound. A ping... The sound usually reserved for a skill unlock. He looked to his side and felt his own smirk begin to grow.

 **Skill unlocked.**

 **Aura focusing.**

 **Through intense focus one may strengthen their resilience. Through intense focus one may strike down their foes with even the slightest cut. Through intense focus one may surpass destiny.**

 **After witnessing the power of an aura fuelled attack you've realised that you yourself can achieve such a task. By sacrificing aura or health your attacks can become significantly more damaging.**

 **Upon usage aura or health will be drained. The more aura or health drained the higher the damage bonus.**

 **Base usage. 50% aura drain = 200% attack damage. 10% damage applied through blocks.**

 **Warning. Damage bonus is only applicable to one strike. A base twenty second cool down applies even if the hit misses.**

He moved the sword into a more defensive posture and he flared his own aura as he sent it into his blade. His grey aura flowed into the weapon and he saw her take a step towards him. The ground under her cracked and she was in his face within seconds. Both swords came at him from opposing sides and he maneuvered his body to block both weapons. He let go of his greatsword as it moved to block the one on his right and he caught it with his right hand as he blocked the first sword with the buckler on his gauntlet.

He felt a hint of irritation as he felt his aura shatter even though he blocked the attack. The second strike hit the flat of his greatsword moments after but he'd already lunged forwards with the spikes on his buckler. Her eyes widened marginly and he skimmed the side of her cheek before she sent her shoulder into his chest. The hit had significant impact with enough force to lift him off his feet and send him backwards. He saw the stagger debuff and felt his irritation grow. The attacks came in a flurry. His health dropped rapidly and she didn't relent in the slightest as she charged forwards.

He knew this tactic.

She was fucking stunlocking him.

Each flurry ended with a shoulder check that pushed him back and reapplied the stagger debuff.

He felt oddly proud... It only added to his irritation.

His health was beeping now. A bright red bar was flashing in the corner of his vision. Her stab came straight for the center of his chest and he could feel the aura she had poured into the strike.

He heard a high pitched bark and watched in fascination as wind visibly pushed her blade to the side. A sniper round echoed through the city and a large bullet hit the blade pushing it further to the side. It missed and the debuff vanished. He didn't waste the opportunity and sent his own aura fuelled attack straight at her. Her surprise was evident and when the blunt part of his sheathed blade hit her straight in the ribs with enough force to send her entire body went airborne. Her form vanished into a nearby house and be saw dust pooling out of it.

He took a moment and breathed as he fell to one of his knees. He used the sheathed greatsword to help keep him on his knees and saw the gold barrier that appeared over him. A flash of light made him look over and he saw a worried looking Nono hovering above him as she held a barrier in place. Ponta jumped from around his neck and growled at her but he rubbed her head lightly to calm her down.

"Easy now. She's a friend." He turned towards Nono "Thanks for this."

Nono nodded and he saw her glaring out at the crumbling house.

"She's not dead. Or unconscious either."

He reached into his inventory and pulled out a swirling gold potion. He took a swig and put the flask back inside the dimension storage as his health rapidly regenerated.

"I didn't think she would be. Damn that bitch hits hard."

He managed to push himself to stand and Ponta used whatever wind magic she used to lightly land on his shoulder. The barrier faded and an exhausted looking Nono looked back at him. He nodded and she smiled as she flew off. He felt a gust of wind and saw a red cape next to him.

"Rose." He let out a breath. "Good of you to join us."

"Sorry, sorry. Are you okay?"

He nodded and heard a bang. He batted the glowing bullet away with his gauntlet. A menacing laugh distorted the peaceful breeze.

"That was new... I didn't know NPC's could get Nav fairies. And a sprite fox? You've been busy~."

He felt his jaw drop as she walked out of the crumbling building looking perfectly fine.

No blood on her clothing.

No bruising on her arms.

Not even a stray hair.

He glanced at Ruby and saw that she was about as unnerved as him.

"Dispell. Burn"

Twelve fireballs flared to life around him and he sent them out in a spray around him. Seven of them impacted with the frozen people while the other five combined into a bigger stream of fire that roared towards Nyte. He saw her cross her swords and barrier of energy sprung to life around her as the attack hit.

He did a quick calculation in his head and nodded mentally as he let the sheathe attach onto his back.

"Ruby. Grab everyone. Double time to the Bullheads."

He could heard the surprise in her voice as he unsheathed the sword and poured the little aura he'd regenerated into the blade.

"Eh? What about you?"

"Trust me. I'll meet you guys once you're in the air. Get moving."

She lingered a moment but he felt the gust of wind as she darted away.

Nyte returned to his sight when she swung both her swords and sent a cross of blue energy through his flames. She looked at him as her eyes constantly shifted colours.

"That's also new. You've definitely changed... an upgrade to your AI? Or maybe it's something that only happens when an NPC is left on the brink of death and survives?"

He noted how she casually pointed one of swords at him and he heard a click as the blade split in half. A feeling of misfortune hit him in the face and he dodged to the side as a bolt of energy lit up the air. It hit what remained of the warehouse behind him and he stared at the glowing spot where the shot had melted through.

Her blade clicked back into place and her smile widened slightly.

"Let's continue."

The glow around her swords brightened.

The air itself seemed to shake.

Her foot left the ground.

His fist cocked back.

Steel met with dust.


End file.
